About Lori Heffelfinger

I'm Lori Heffelfinger. I graduated in 1997 with psi class and I am currently a consultant.
I do leadership development, executive coaching, team development and leadership academies.

Personally, I'm more confident, more loving. It really opened up my world view. I
was working in a large corporation, I had a perspective and this really opened up
my world view. I got a bigger salary increase, that was cool. But I think, you know,
I have seen a lot of things happening organizations, and this really gave me a language
to understand what is happening and some tools and techniques of what to do about
it. And then of course, there is the whole community, so faculty, staff, alums. So
I hire alums, I work with alums, I teach students. It is an amazing, amazing network.
And um, now my husband's a student, 20 years later, my husband's decided to go to
school and get the same degree. So that says something right?

MSOD changed the trajectory of my life personally and professionally. Personally,
I think I had a lot of personal growth. I think I became more loving, more accepting,
less judgemental. And then professionally, I could just see things in organizations
that I hadn't seen before. I had a way of dealing with those things that I didn't
have before. So, Yeah!

The one thing I want people to know about my legacy, and this is hard to say because
it seems so simple. It's really honestly, I just want people to talk to each other,
and I think it seems so very simple, it's not so simple. I think I am pretty good
at getting people to talk to each other, I am good with conflict, and I think, if
all people remember about me is that I was a person who listened well, who helped
others listen well, and helped people talk to each other. And I think if you can do
that, we can change the world frankly. We can definitely change teams, definitely
can change organizations, but definitely getting people to talk to each other. I almost
hate to say it because it sounds so simple, but it's really not.

I think you know in a lot of my personal relationships with people across the board
and across the ages, having that clear line of communication.

The interesting thing is there is actually technology for that. So there is, it isn't
just about people sitting down, there's actually technology, there is a way of making
that say for people to have conversation and for people to speak things that to people
they didn't think they could speak before. So, I have gotten leaders together who
have worked together fourteen years, and have never talked about things. Even though
they all know these things are happening between them, they are not having that conversation.
So, just creating the space for people to have that communication can really open
up, people's satisfaction and working with each another, but it can also improve revenues
and productivity. That is what I hope my legacy is. Simple.

So the contribution I would like to make in the next 10 years is my work predominantly
now is with organizations. I'd like to have more of an impact in the community, so
again in the vein of getting people to talk together, it's really getting communities
of people to communicate together. I live in Redondo Beach, we have a power plant,
people in the community are so irritated with that power plant. So simply getting
the voters and the power plant and people together could be something like that is
the kind of legacy I'd like to be leaving for the future. So, if I could just get
larger groups of people to talk to each other. That could be a cool legacy for my
future. Yeah!

I have been really fortunate to be on the alumni leadership council, to develop alumni
leaders, to teach in the program. That has been so rewarding. So, I think the power
of giving to get. Personal fulfillment is super important. So, I think it is an awesome
program, it's awesome people and we can change the world together.